


A Spice of Melodic Screaming

by necrolus



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures
Genre: Alternate Universe, Band Fic, Other, bugsy makes an appearance for a gag, cheren and bianca are name dropped, friendship and guitars, gold and black are buddies, guess you can say mildly implied agency, lack appears once, my specord event piece, the other johto kids are name-dropped, white plays a pretty good role
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:21:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22957837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/necrolus/pseuds/necrolus
Summary: Local garage band duo Black and Gold have been struggling to nab a gig. When the time finally strikes for them to perform it happens to be at one of the most pretentious country clubs in town. Can they impress the preppy crowd or will their career end before it can truly take off?
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	A Spice of Melodic Screaming

**Author's Note:**

> heyo this was my fic for specord writing even. i was like like double over the limit so I had to cut it up to share it for the event but this is the entire fic!

It had been a long time since Gold actually bothered to make the journey to Black’s apartment. Normally, he just forced the boy three years his junior to make the drive to his house since that’s where they chose to normally hang out anyway.

He took a few glances around the lobby as he pushed his way into the room; it was a little shabby looking if he was being honest. Some water damage on the ceiling and paint scratching off the walls but he knew that this was the best Black could’ve gotten for himself. 

The elevator doors slid open with a creaking sound the minute he pushed the button to go up. It seemed to be too early in the morning for anyone else to be out so he went into the elevator alone, lightly pressing the glowing button labeled “9” before settling in the back of the slowly ascending box.

Running a hand through his hair, his sighs soon turned into a cheeky grin. Gold hadn’t allowed himself to get too excited for what’s to come but of course, he certainly was. How could he not be? He waited so long for an opportunity like this that he had at once, practically selfishly grabbed it without consulting his “business partner.” But, Black wouldn’t care, Gold knew that in the end because this is what they both wanted.

“Finally get out of that garage once this kicks off.” He muttered to himself under the swaying light of the elevator.

Finally, the doors opened and he was greeted with an overwhelming smell of musk and pine cleaner. At least they tried their best to make it smell okay even when he could see the bottles of pine cleaner lying near stray tables. 

Black resided in room “909” which was to the left of the elevator as Gold remembered it; his doorknob was also a lot shinier than the rest having been new as an incident months ago involving one of them drunk (Gold) and Black being unable to find his keys. 

Luckily, Gold had a key of his own to the place, given to him for “emergencies.” If anything was an emergency, it was this. 

After the satisfying click of the key in the keyhole, he turned the doorknob and swung it open to peer into the dark abyss that was the apartment. He wasted no time turning to his right to flick the light switch. The pitiful light overhead flickered on and the room was illuminated. 

Black was, as he expected, strewn across the couch in a heap of blankets. This meant Gold could only do one thing so he helpfully. . . gently kicked Black in the side to wake up. 

The young man stirred in his sleep and then all at once, hastily sat up before his eyes had even opened all the way. He peered at Gold for a moment and then grumbled, “It’s early.”

Gold just laughed, “It’s only 6 in the morning, you used to wake up at this time for school.” Black gave him frown, “Yeah, used to. What are you here for anyway. You hate driving here.”

With a sinister, playful grin on his face, Gold reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a slip of paper. “This.”

Black squinted at it for a moment before turning his head back to Gold, “You came over for a sheet of paper?” Gold practically snorted, “No- No. I’m here for what’s on the paper. See?”, he carefully unfolded the paper and began to read it aloud for his junior.

“Due to complications with our previous arrangements. We will be allowing you two to perform at our fancy, schmancy, prestigious country club full of rich people willing to sponsor you for your amazing talent and skill.”

He seemed proud of himself as he nodded after reading it, “Don’t exhaust yourself because I know it’s exciting-“. 

Black already shot off the couch, stumbling a little on his pajama pants but festering with excitement nonetheless. He fired his hands up into the air with a grin, “So I got a gig? A real gig? I get to sing for a bunch of fancy people at their club?”. His voice was so loud it practically shook the building they stood on.

“We have a gig,” Gold reminded him but with little malice in his voice, “Now hurry up and go take your medicine. If you pass out on me from thinking too hard about this dream than I’m leaving you here.”

That was all it seemingly took for Black to shoot off his feet and finally get ready for the morning. Gold casually taking the backseat and watching him fumble and run around the house in a hurry. He occasionally barked reminders at him, especially when his junior slid his jacket on inside out. 

To Gold, it sometimes felt like a bit of a hassle to get Black in check, the boy seemed to lose his head and forget simple tasks and other times could spout the cleverest thing Gold had heard it months. It made spending time with him a little spontaneous but Gold could handle it, in fact, he probably contributed to the chaos a little too much. 

While Black was busy flipping what Gold hoped were pancakes in the kitchen, he turned his head to look at a photo of them placed on the coffee table. 

It was three years old at this point, the evidence was in the metal braces on Black’s smile. He looked a little dorky at that point, Gold had often teased him about it at that time, that he didn’t really look like he could be a rockstar or skater.

He didn’t know why out of all the photos they had together, Black chose to frame that one anyway. Neither of them looked particularly cool, Gold had been “testing” out a motorcycle at a shop. Hands-on the handles and making a “vroom, vroom!” sound as he pretended to be driving on the highway. Black had Gold’s skateboard under his arm, the red wheels only slightly visible in frame. He had his school bag slung on his other arm too and as Gold remembered, he had convinced him to skip the rest of his classes to hang out around town.

The idea of being in a band hadn’t been so serious at that point, Gold was just fresh out of school, working a minimum wage job at the bowling alley and Black wasn’t close to graduating yet, still a shiny photo in the yearbook. They’d only met because Black had been the only person in the bowling alley one night and had managed to brilliantly launch a ball into a wall. They’d spent the next hour trying to figure out how to hide the obvious dent after one very long awkward conversation. After the quick adjustment of a shelf and some banter, the two played a round together and their friendship was secured.

Gold remembered how nice it felt to finally have someone to hang out with, his other pals had gone out of town for university and it was hard for them to meet up due to conflicting schedules.

Black had become Gold’s partner or rather apprentice in crime, Gold would drag the boy anywhere and everywhere to hang out. They’d spend hours at the skatepark and Gold tried his hardest to teach him how to do all sorts of cool tricks but it never stuck. It had occurred to him at the time, that it was hard to find something they both enjoyed doing that didn’t involve them downing every item at the diner just out of town or throwing cash at claw machines and getting frustrated when they couldn’t win anything. 

It wasn’t until they were jamming in the car to some rock song that the idea of being a band came up, Black had good vocals and throughout all his years of screaming, he’d might as well do something with that pent-up yelling, especially after he confessed to Gold that he was a “chorus kid.” They then came to the conclusion that Black could learn how to play the guitar while Gold manned the drums and back-up vocals. It was perfect. Maybe not as perfect or brilliantly decided as he remembered it but it was a fantastic idea and the months after that were spent practicing and learning.

Black snapped him out of his reminiscing moments with a question, “So when is the gig happening?”

Gold blinked and leaned back at the couch, laughing awkwardly, “Right, about that. . We’re performing tonight since it was so last minute.” He supposed this announcement probably should’ve come up earlier as evident by the surprise on his juniors face.

“Wh- Like today? Tonight? At the country club. What.” He stated blankly at Gold and then shook his head, “Of course you got it last minute.” Gold quickly jerked his head to turn around and shoot him a dirty look, “Don’t complain. It’s out first real gig and if it’s last minute than we’ll just gotta try our best to prepare today.” Black didn’t look so sure but he sat down beside Gold regardless and stretched out, “We should sing one of the apricorn based songs.”

“Those are our only songs.”

“Yeah but like, what about the one based on blue apricorns, we called it Dry Skill.” Black fired back only to be met with a grin and playful eye roll.

“I was certain that the one about red apricorns was your favorite, you seemed enthusiastic about the name Spicy Power.”

Black moved his hands behind his head and huffed, “Yeah, that’s a good one! But, I don’t know. Country club, fancy people, we should probably go for one that’ll be easy on them. What if we offend their ears?.” Gold arched a brow, studying his junior for a moment before nodding with a grin. “That might be the smartest thing you’ve said in a week. But, don’t worry. They’ll love whatever song we see and we can just pick the best one out of the pile.”

He stood up with a stretch, a yawn escaping him. “Regardless, we definitely should go and make our way to the garage. You should warm up your voice.”

Black paused for a moment as if he had something to say but instead, he jumped to his feet and nodded. Gold tossed him his cap that was sitting on the table and together, they walked out of the tiny apartment.

Already on their way to the elevator, Gold took one last look around the hallway. He could just barely see light underneath the residents doorway now, it appeared that finally, the rest of the world seemed to wake up. 

“Your apartment is kinda creepy, dude.” 

Black shot him a quizzical look, “What?” Gold shrugged, pressing the bottom for the lobby in the elevator. “You know, it’s like. . . old and smells like pine cleaner. Someone probably died in here. Like an old lady or young couple.”

His junior just frowned, leaning on the rail inside the descending box for support. “Doubt it. I don’t see any couples or old people. Mostly just people my age or some middle aged lonely man.” Suddenly, his face lit up as if he’d had a brilliant realization. “Actually yeah, I heard a rumor that one lady died on the 2nd floor ‘cause she didn’t pay her rent! Spooky.”

Gold snorted, that sounded like a story his mom would have told him as a kid to make him do something. Luckily, the house he’s in is paid off completely. He probably wouldn’t be in it otherwise. 

“You don’t really believe that, do you? Someone probably told you that to get you to pay your rent.”

There was a huff as Black turned his head away from his senior, his brows furrowing slightly. “Of course not! I’m not stupid.” His voice raised defensively, making Gold to chuckle to himself.

The doors of the elevator finally slid open, making a sound akin to nails on a chalkboard and they stepped out into the lobby. 

A few people were scattered about, no one Gold could recognize but that was probably for the best. At least it didn’t feel like an apartment out of a horror movie now, with signs of life finally piling up 

Quick to leave the building, they both piled into Gold’s car which smelled of so much axe body spray that Black had to roll down the window to get even a little bit of fresh air.

As Gold was busy cranking up the vehicle, Black looked over him and then blurted out, “I didn’t know you liked that band!?!” That earned him a confused look as Gold looked down at his shirt and then nodded.

“S’not mine. Uh, I stole it from my buddy Silver years ago and ended up spilling tomato sauce all on it trying to make spaghetti so there’s this huge stain on the back and now he won’t take it back.” He cracked a grin before continuing, “I’m not into that weird emo music he is.”

Black clicked his seatbelt into the buckle and nodded, “I used to like that band.” This caused Gold to laugh just as the car pulled out of the parking spot and they begin to exit the lot. “Seriously?”

“Don’t bully me. I thought they were good. Besides, I still have a video of you singing that trashy pop song drunk.” Gold shot him the dirtiest look possible, “Bastard. I told you to delete that. My music taste is the finest theirs is.”

It was Blacks turn to crack a grin and he folded his hands behind his head, leaning back in the car seat, “Whatever you say, Gold.”

The rest of the drive to Gold’s house was full of terrible music and bantering insults being tossed back and forth. Both of them relieving their most embarrassing moments via the stories of the other.

The car pulled into the driveway of an all too familiar house, a simple two-story place. An unmistakable garage with the paint scratched off the front and a bed of flowers lining the outside. 

As Black stepped out of the car, he took notice of the fact that the flowers were actually perfect in tact and looked well taken care of. “I didn’t know you could actually handle plants.”

In response to that, there was the slam of Gold’s car door and Black could just barely make out the small smile on Gold’s face. “Ah, well. My mother would’ve wanted them to stay beautiful, she spent a long time working on them.”

Black studied the flowers for a brief moment once more before he followed Gold into the house. It looked the same as it always has, the downstairs was clean minus a few stray cans of soda and it smelled like cinnamon faintly. 

“Stop staring, dude. It’s just my house. You were here last week.” Gold shouted at him from another room, presumably from his room upstairs that Black now refused to go in because of the smell.

Already trained to do so from many days spent here, Black went ahead and swung open the door to the garage. Their instruments were covered and in cases, the guitars placed neatly against the wall with speakers nearby. The drums just had a couple blankets thrown on top of them because Gold didn’t know what else to do with them.

Blacks center was the microphone, it was one that couldn’t be removed from the stand so he had to swing the stand around in his hands while swinging. Not ideal but he got told by someone once that it made him look cool so he’s stuck with it. 

He went ahead and went to work uncovering the stand, plugging in everything that needed to be plugged in as he waited for Gold to arrive.

Luckily, it didn’t take Gold long to burst into the garage. Sporting a new outfit that just featured a low cut shirt, some jacket Black remembers him grabbing at a garage sale and the same pre-ripped jeans Gold took so much pride in. He tried to never comment on Gold’s outfit but he did always think it was a little cliche, Black just always chose to dress casual and in something he’d gladly leave the house in. 

“Doesn’t my guitar still look great?”, Gold was talking as he opened the case and pulled out a mostly shiny electric car that had little black lightning bolt decals on it, Black could see the edges of the decal peeling and scratches along the paint but didn’t say anything but a quick, “Yeah. Nice.”

Gold fixed the guitar around his neck after plugging it in, plucking a few of the strings to test out the sound. The speakers began to boom half-heartedly before picking up with better sound halfway through. “See? Perfect.”

Black rolled his eyes as he gripped the microphone stand in his hands, “Which apricorn song?” Gold just shrugged, “Try the one about yellow apricorns, Sour Stamina.”

Swiftly, Black began to chant the first few lines of the song into the microphone, voice raising with every word he spoke until he became on the verge of yelling out of the words that left his lips. 

The song required him to scream out multiple words halfway through and he knew that if he practiced that one too much, his voice would be ruined by the end of the day, effectively crushing his dreams beneath his feet in a manner that’d make him sob.

“I’m not feeling that one. Try Sweet Speed.” 

Taking Gold’s recent input in mind, he started over again with the song. His microphone buzzed a little and there was a slight delay in the echo of his voice but as long as he could hear himself, it was perfect to him.

Gold just nodded, “That’s the one we’ll perform. Got it?” Black twirled his his microphone around and grinned in response, “Yeah, I got it. This one will be the winner for sure. Oh, they’ll be so enraptured in our performance, they won’t know what hit them!”

“Sure, bud. Sure.” His senior just chuckled at him as he continued to strum the strings of his guitar. 

Black left the microphone stand to rummage through the bin that contained the lyrics to all their songs and a few that never got finished. “Why’d we name them after every flavor of apricorns?” 

There was a sigh from across the room, “How’d you already forget? It was my idea, apricorns are like, those cool exotic things that grow on trees and can be used in recipes or to make stuff. They also allegedly can make someone better at running or jumping and have a distinct taste.” He nodded to himself, “It was just a cool way to go about the naming scheme for our songs.”

“Uh, right.” Black gave him a thumbs up while still scrambling through the bin until he found the lyrics for Sweet Speed, the one about pink apricorns. He had to get them better memorized, especially if they’ll be performing today. “Alright, I’m ready. Let’s get to practicing.”

The two of them spent the next couple of hours practicing all they could, a few trips and stumbles here and there, Gold almost dropped his guitar a few times and Black practically swerved the microphone into a wall at one point but everything was going good enough to them.

To Black, they were the perfect band. It was him and Gold, with Gold manning the instrument and back-up vocals, Black could sing his heart out or rather, scream his heart out. It was all he could ask for in his dream, his dream to one day make it big and sell out shows and records. He wanted to have his name flashing on people’s screens and billboards, for everyone to see him on the street and know exactly who he was; it wasn’t that much to ask for in life.

Just as his watch clicked at 12:00 pm, Gold set down his guitar with an agitated huff. “Alright, no more. I need to eat something.”

“I’m not ready to stop.”

Gold made his way over to Black and gracefully unplugged the microphone for him, “Yeah, you are kid. Come on. I’ve got frozen pizza in the freezer. Go eat something before you pass out.” 

Black furrowed his brows at him but reluctantly agreed to leave behind the microphone and follow Gold into the kitchen. There, his senior was already sliding a few frozen pizzas into the oven, straight onto the rack with nothing underneath.

While Gold was doing that, Black pulled himself up onto the counter to sit down on. 

“How’s that- uh, blue-haired friend of yours?”, He only asked because he noticed a picture frame of what appeared to be Gold, a guy with red hair and a girl with dark blue hair. Not very natural hair colors, he supposed.

His senior jerked his hand around to look at him as he closed the oven door, “You mean Crystal? You’ve met her before, Black. She’s got the weird ponytails that stick up”, He made some gestures near his head as if that was gonna get his junior to understand. “But, she’s okay, I think. Almost done with her degree, she’s doing some kind of research or whatever. Wants to be a professor one day, I don’t know. Her and Silver are off doing their own thing.”

Gold plopped onto the counter right across from Black, leaning against the cabinets slightly. “What about you? You had two friends, like that blonde haired chick and the guy with glasses.”

Black immediately smiled, “Yeah!” Suddenly, excitement was coursing through his veins. “Yeah, yeah. The girl is Bianca, she’s off doing work for some fancy lady and a Cheren is studying abroad, all the way out in a foreign country. He sent me a goodie bag with snacks from it once, it was really cool.”

He let out a sigh though, the reality of the moment hitting him all of a sudden. “Damn. They won’t be able to watch our first gig though, will they?”

Gold just shook his head, “Nah. My friends can’t either. They said they wanted to but I can’t ask them to fly out on such a short notice.” He swung his legs back and forth, “I’ll just have to tell them all about over text. They’ll understand.”

Black just nodded solemnly, he did want his friends to come watch him. Badly so, he wanted them to see and feel his dream from the crowd. To watch him and really understand that he could make it big one day. That wouldn’t happen though, the only people watching him would be the crowd of aristocratic country club members swinging their wine classes around and around.

“Don’t get too hung up on it. If this gig is a success, then you can guarantee will be getting more shows and then you can invite all your little friends to come watch us. Hell, we might even have the money to pay for them to fly out, ourselves. I’d do anything to force Silver to wear one of our band shirts.” Try as he must, Gold shot him the best reassuring grin he could muster. 

The alarm for the pizza went off quickly, before Black could even form a response and off went Gold from the counter, pulling the pizza straight off the rack itself like it was nothing. 

He pulled some paper plates from a cabinet and set down the boiling pizza next to Black. “This is the finest frozen pizza the grocery store had to offer, eat it wisely.” Gold was already stuffing the slices into his mouth as he was speaking.

Lunch went by quickly after that, Black inhaling the entire pizza and then sneaking a candy bar he found behind a bowl on the kitchen island. Soon enough, they were both back in the garage with Gold strapping on the guitar once more and they were back to playing.

In-between songs, he made sure to shout that the gig was in a good 5 hours and that they better work until it’s time to go.

It was tiring, Black took many breaks to savor his voice and had to pop in another dosage of his medication so he could keep his head clear. Gold fell asleep on the drum set at one point which left his junior kicking him awake, just as Gold had done to him earlier. 

The five hours went by way too fast in Black’s opinion, suddenly he was being pulled upstairs by Gold and pushed into a room.

“Get dressed, I rented you a tuxedo since I already have mine.”

The brunette just blinked at him confused, “We’re changing clothes?” Gold rolled his eyes, arms folding over his chest. “Yeah, dude. We’re changing clothes. We can’t go to a country club looking like how we do. They’ll kick us out. Besides, you never know, there might be cute girls you wanna impress.” He shut the door behind him, leaving Black to fumble with the buttons of his suit alone. Frantically trying to make sure each and everyone popped right into place and that he at least looked decent.

However, the moment he stepped out of the room, he was greeted with laughter from his senior. “Black, your tie isn’t even on- Actually, nevermind, that works just fine. Let’s get this show on the road already.” 

Swiftly, Black was being pushed into their van and music was blaring into his ears as the car was getting cranked up. 

The van was just pulling out of the driveway as Black slumped down in his seat, “How far is it?” He could see Gold glancing at the GPS and nodding, “Only about 15 minutes if we’re good on traffic.”

“What makes you think there’s gonna be girls our age there?”

Gold shot him a grin, “Why wouldn’t there be? Young rich ladies, frolicking around, eager to date a couple of guys like us to get away from their overbearing rich fathers grasp. I’m going to try to get as many numbers as I can before the night is over.” He hummed to himself, “Ladies love nothing more than a musician.”

As Black was rolling down his window to let cool air in, he shrugged. “Ladies don’t seem to love you right now.” He said very bluntly leading to Gold elbowing him, “Ladies I know just don’t see to value me the way they should, you jerk.” But, he spoke with no malice, full teasing laced in his voice. “I’ll even help you pick up any that are around your age, I have a brilliant way with words when it comes to females.”

The brunette just nodded, “I’m sure you do.” He spoke right before lying his head down on car door and closing his eyes. He needed a tiny moment of rest before he was once again jostled into a brand new environment with people around him that he’d never met in his life.

Never one to be an amazing driver, Gold slammed on the brakes as he parked, causing Black’s head to jerk back and hit the top of his car seat. 

“We’re here!”, His friend barked from the seat beside him. Black groaned but swung the car door open and stepped outside to get a good look at the country club.

It was far too nice for either of them to be standing near, the lawn was neatly cut with dozens upon dozens rose bushes decorating the front. There were marble and limestone lining walkways and walls. Too many people with clothes that seemed to bend light itself prancing around, hair did up far too nicely and perfume he could smell miles away. Those that were not dressed in fancy clothing still smelled of money, rackets lined in hand and polos with symbols for companies he couldn’t even recognize pressed onto the front.

Black glanced over at Gold to see if he eyeing the buildings they way he was but his partner was just gesturing for him to hurry up and come along to the building so the brunette just picked up his feet and jogged next to him.

“Alright, I’m gonna get some people to help us get the instruments and such set up while you can just mingle with the guests, alright? Try not to scream.” Gold spoke quietly as they approached the front door where a small but intimidating man stood.

“Name?”, The guy glared up at them. He certainly didn’t look too in place here besides his outfit, he had frankly messy hair the two long strips of hair on either side of his face were choppy at the ends and flipped out but he certainly looked like he meant business.

Gold just gave his best charismatic smile, “I’m Gold and my buddy here is Black, we’re the entertainment for tonight.” The man’s expression did not change one bit as he barked another question, “Show me your ID’s.” Gold took the longest to pull his out, flipping through his wallet in search of it while Black just pulled his out of the front and handed it to the man.

The guy took a long look at the ID’s before nodding and handing them back to them, “Alright. Come in. There will be people by the stage that can help you get everything set up.” He then opened the door to the club and finally, they were let inside.

The lobby was packed with people, the classy kind that only seemed to exist in movies while a lady in a neat business suit with hair pinned up waiting at the counter. Chandeliers hung from ceilings and potted plants lined each corner of the room. The furniture looked untouched and the wooden tables showed no sign of scratches. It was all too neat and perfect at once.

They approached the lady at the desk with caution and quickly, Black decided he’d do the talking based on the way Gold was looking at the girl. 

“I’m Black, he’s Gold. We’re the entertainers for tonight. Uh- Where is the room we’re gonna be performing in?” The lady looked up at him, pushing her glasses up the brim of her nose. He could see her studying both of them carefully, looking them up and down before she spoke, “Down the left hall, first door. You cannot miss it. It’s a huge room.” Her eyes drifted to Gold as she batted her eyelashes, “I look forward to seeing what you perform.”

Quickly, Black tugged on Gold’s suit jacket to lead him away before he started spouting nonsense at the woman. There was no way he was gonna let them have a repeat of the diner incident. 

As he entered the ballroom, he could see Gold suddenly move straight across the room and out of his line of sight. Unsure of what to do, Black just made his way over to a couch on the side of the room and sat down.

Gold had been making a beeline for a particularly pretty woman he spotted from across the room, she had short lilac hair and wore what looked like a suit. Putting on his best charismatic smile and running a hand through his hair, Gold slid right behind the girl and began to speak.

“Hello, pretty lady. Do you come here often?”, Just as the girl was beginning to turn around, he kept talking, “I’m one of the entertainers for tonight, you know. I’m quite good with my hands and guitars-“ He paused as the girl turned to stare at him.

He could see the beginning of confusion on her face before it suddenly turned to one of shock as she began to speak softly, “Sir, I’m- I’m a dude.”

Gold could feel the horror creeping in as he just stared at the guy in front of him, the guy he just obviously started hitting on with no filter. A dude that looked like a lady.

He could’ve said something really clever but all he did was give a dumbfounded, “What?”

The guy shot him a dirty look as he crossed his arms. “I’m a dude, sir. I’m not a lady and I certainly don’t look like one. My name is Bugsy” He sighed and shook his head. Gold just nodded and kept staring, jaw slightly hinged open as he tried to comprehend his actions.

“I- Uh, Haha, sorry bro. Wow. Dude, I know, look, I’m just gonna go get some snacks. Haha. Cool talk, bro.” He quickly jolted over to one of the waiters and snatched whatever weird cracker thing was sitting on top of the plate. He was teeming with frustration and embarrassment.

It didn’t take him long before he found Black sitting on a couch and ran over to him so he could sit down and relax. 

His junior just gave his a confused look, “What happened?” That question prompted a groan out of a Gold who slumped down on the couch, defeated. “Dude, I flirted with a boy.”

Black snatched the cracker thing out of his hands and took a bite, surprise evident on his face as he looked at his friend. “I didn’t know you swung-“ Gold shot him a dirty look and shook his head, “No! No. We’re not having a talk about that today, just let me sob about my terrible mistake.” The brunette just laughed at his friend's misery.

Gold only had his face buried in his hands for a second before he jumped up, “Shit! I’m gonna go get someone to help get the instruments and stuff set for us. Black, you go. . talk to the guest and scope out pretty girls.” He was already running off before Black could even get a word in on his thoughts about the situation.

Not one to waste time, Black also jumped to his feet and looked around. Across the room, he could just barely make out what looked like ice cream sitting neatly on a table. That was all it took for him to start running over, thinking he could use a cold treat before he had to perform.

That was until, he crashed directly into someone, causing him to fall back with an “oof” and for the person in front of him to collide with the floor as well. 

He could only groan as he brought himself up to his feet before getting a glance at who he knocked down. It was a girl in a long dress, she looked like someone he faintly remembered seeing at his school but, she was giving him quite the bitter glare as she brought herself up to her feet. 

“What is wrong with you!?!”, She pointed an accusing finger at his chest, practically brimming with anger. “You cannot just be running around like that, there are expensive artifacts everywhere- who even are you? I’ve never seen you around.”

Black just stared at her blankly, mind going numb as he tried to process whatever she had just said. “I’m Black. . the singer that’s performing tonight. .?”

Her entire expression changed at that as her face lit up, “Oh! I’ve been wanting to meet you. I wanted to see who my father hired. You’re certainly not what I expected.” She reached over and shook his hand herself, smiling at him. “I’m White, the owner of this establishment is my dad.”

Black as confused as he was just nodded, “Okay, White? You’re in my way, though! Look, there’s ice cream behind you and I need to-“ She stepped in front of him to block his path when he tried to glance behind her. 

“Alright, Black. That’s not ice cream though, it’s not even food. You should tell me more about your band though, I’m curious.” She glanced over to the stage and made a gesture, “That’s your partner, right? The guy that's blowing a kiss at one of the waitresses?”

Black followed her gaze and saw Gold blowing kisses and making faces at a waitress that was just trying to serve people glasses of wine. He could clearly see her turning away from him at every advancement he made. “Haha, yeah! That right there, that’s my buddy, Gold. You won’t find a guy out there that can handle a guitar like him. Of course, he’s just helping me achieve my dream.”

White watched him, leaning in slightly, “Your dream? What might that be?”. This now caused Black to light up, grinning from ear to ear as his voice raised, “I’m going to be the best singer there is! The main man of the best band there is, people are going to see me on the street and be able to recognize me no matter what. I’m going to have my name everywhere. Just you wait.” He pumped a fist into the air excitedly, “You’ll see me everywhere one day. Ah! Just thinking about it makes me want to scream. It just gets me so pumped!”

This prompted White to laugh in response, “Ah- excuse me. I’m not laughing at your dream. I’ve just never seen someone in here get so excited like that. But, please don’t scream. That’ll get you thrown out fast.” 

Black nodded eagerly, “Uh-huh, uh-huh. Don’t worry! I won’t. No way. Getting kicked out would be the worst” He grinned, “But, it really is tempting to scream. I’ll have to save my excitement for the stage.” There was nothing more relieving to him than screaming at the top of his lungs, as weird as that might sound.

She just smiled at him though, “I look forward to seeing your performance then, Black. If you don’t run into another person, that is.” She twirled one of the strands of hair that framed her face around her finger, “I was worried for my father when he said the previous musicians had cancelled. I was sure he couldn’t find anyone else so I’m glad you're here Black. I very much hope your performance is one of merit.” 

Her eyes widened a little as she moved to peer behind him, “Your friend is approaching, ah- hm, do you have a pen on you?” Black shook his head and White just sighed, “Alright. Let me find mine.”

She unzipped the purse at her side and pulled out a ballpoint pen that had her name engraved onto the side, “Give me your arm.” He didn’t know what made him listen to her but he stuck out his arm and watched as she pushed up his sleeve and hastily wrote some numbers onto his arm. 

Smiling at him, she slipped the pen back into her purse and shook his head once more. “It’s been a pleasure, Black. Please call me when you think you’re close to achieving your dream.” 

She walked away from him just as a Gold grabbed his shoulder from behind, “Come on, dude. It’s time to perform on the stage. Let’s show these people what we’re about.” He practically drug Black up onto the stage, pushing past the crowd of people to get up there.

As Black stood on the front of the stage, holding the microphone stand that had been provided by the establishment, he looked down at all the guests. Many had begun to sit at tables or stand in huddled groups in the corner, looking up at them on the stage before turning to whisper among themselves. 

Gold had settled behind him, finally pulling out his electric guitar from the case and plugging it into a set of speakers. There was a few gasps from the crowd as this happened and suddenly, it occurred to Gold that maybe they were in over their head but he still continued to finish setting up the guitar before taking his place next to Black.

They shared a look before Black began to sing the first few words of the song, voice starting out low before gradually rising. He leaned into the mic, adrenaline coursing through him as he spoke each syllable with unrivaled confidence. Behind him, Gold played the guitar with precise skill, each note hitting perfectly with the words Black was singing. The beat picking up speed just as Black was.

They were perfectly in sync in Black’s mind, there was nothing wrong with the pacing or the sound. To him, they sounded brilliant and could not have sounded any better. 

He closed his eyes as he began to chant the lines. It was almost time for him to scream out the main portion of the lyrics but not yet, there had to be build up. He breathed life into the microphone, voice rising and falling as he tried his hardest not to drum his foot against the ground.

He couldn’t see the guest but he could already picture their astonishment and how impressed they’d be with his obvious skill, he would be unrivaled in the world on singing. Finally, the beat picked up and it was time.

Slowly, he continued the lyrics calmly before he picked up and began to chant the lyrics that required the precise screaming that he had been practicing and training. Yelling into the microphone but not mindless, he had perfect control of the screaming he presented into the microphone and he kept going. 

Black could feel his face contort and scrunch up as his brows furrowed to match with his screaming. The words made the back of his throat feel raw but he kept going, singing his heart out on the stage.

Gold was not far behind, excitement brimming through him as he played the notes and backed up all the choruses with his own voice, one much tougher than Black’s but still good enough to carry. He however could see the crowd, the look of surprise on the faces of guests.

It was then, he noticed the dirty looks some of the older members were giving them while the kids and teens leaned in to listen eagerly. Dirty looks were being shot their way, more people whispering among themselves than before, glaring at them before returning to their gossiping conversation.

Suddenly, Gold felt like he was being watched and judged; of course he was. The older people in the crowd had no taste for their kind of music. The owner probably didn’t even know this was what they sung, he was just looking for a quick gig to entertain his guests. 

Gold tried to share a look with Black, trying to figure out if he noticed the situation but he was all too consumed by his singing.

That was until, Black did that little lean and turn he loved to do with the microphone and his foot slipped on a cord.

It happened far too fast, the microphone and the stand unplugged and went flying off the stage, landing on someone’s table which prompted a poor ladies drink to splash everywhere and the moment she got up, she bumped into a waiter whose tray crashed into a nearby guest.

It started a series of chain reactions, as Black was reeling on the floor. Guests were bumping into one another, slipping on newly spilt drinks and pointing fingers at one another, shouting at any and everyone who crossed their path. It was certainly not a pretty sight and Gold went ahead and just stopped playing to watch the chaos.

He could see Bugsy in the corner, looking started at the drink that stained his suit while the guy from outside the club that had let them in rushed inside, looking around the area with such calm it almost spooked Gold himself. 

To avoid catching the guys stare, he ran over to kneel by Black’s side and helped pull him up. Hoisting his friend to his feet and handing him a handkerchief to help with the blood gushing from his nose. 

“You okay, dude?”

While holding the handkerchief to his nose, Black waved off the question. “Yeah! Just bleeding- oh-“, He staggered a little and Gold quickly put his arm underneath Black to support him. “Whoops. Sorry, Gold. I think I hit my head, it kinda hurts.” 

Gold gave him a worried look but nodded, “Alright. Alright, let’s get out of here before we get-“ He was interrupted by the guy from the door storming up to them. “Come with me, right now. The owner wants to have a word with you two bastards.” Gold shared a look with Black, worrisome thoughts filling his head.

Quickly, they were ushered outside and past all the guests. Some didn’t seem to notice them, too caught up in their own arguments to care and others shot them the dirtiest glare they could probably muster.

The owner was waiting, hands in pocket as he glared at them when they approached. He was a tall, round man with glasses and a clearly tailored white suit. You could tell from the way he stood that he oozed power and intimidation. 

The man behind them pushed them closer to the owner before standing beside the big man himself, also glaring at the two of him with obvious hatred in his eyes.

He didn’t even wait for an explanation before he started going off, “I cannot believe the likes of you two boys! I expected real musicians when I saw your advertisement but instead, I get two young men screaming on stage and causing a terrible ruckus.” He huffed and jabbed a finger at them, “You have cost me the happiness of my guest and I most certainly won’t be paying you for your time. You scoundrels should feel lucky I am not forcing you to pay for the damage as I know there’s no possible way either of you could afford it.” He looked down at them as if they were insects, in a manner that infuriated Gold beyond belief.

Knowing Black was probably too out of it to speak, Gold stared at the man and nodded. “We’re sorry, mister.” He gritted his teeth as he spoke, “It won’t happen again.”

The man grunted, “Of course it won’t. I don’t see anyone hiring you now.” He turned to talk to the guard next to him; the one that checked their ID’s at the door. “Lack-Two, go fetch these boys instruments and take them to their car so they can get the hell out of my sight.” The short guy immediately walked off briskly, shooting Gold another glare.

Ignoring the man in front of him, Gold went to help Black stand a little straighter while still leaning on him. “You sure you’re okay, dude?” Black nodded, wiping the handkerchief around his nose, “I’m okay now. My leg is just sore as-“, He glanced at the owner and then back to Gold, “It’s sore as fuck.” 

Gold grinned at him and gave him a quick pat on the back, “Glad to here it, bud.”

Lack-two returned with their equipment and without notifying them, walked off leaving Gold to pull Black along beside them as they rushed to lead the guy to their van. Black glanced behind once and noticed White standing at the door waving at him, he responded with a half-hearted wave with the hand that wasn’t holding a cloth up to his nose.

Lack tossed their stuff into the back and gave them one last look when the arrived at the van, “Alright, now leave. Get out.” Gold gave the guy a cheeky thumbs at he climbed into the driver's seat of the van with Black not far behind in getting to his own seat.

With a relieved sigh, Gold cranked the van up and they were on their way out of the parking lot of the country club. 

“That was a mess,” He commented as he turned the steering wheel. Black shrugged, “Yeah, sorry, I guess that was my fault.” 

Gold turned down the music on the video, sparing a look at Black with a soft shake of his head, “Don’t sweat it, Black. S’not a big deal. Those rich people are just stuffy, money-hungry drones, they don’t know what good music is.” 

Black set the handkerchief down in the cup holder, wiping away the last bit of blood with his hand as he spoke, “Fuck them, then.” This caused Gold to laugh and nod, “Yeah, dude. Fuck them! Fuck those aristocratic people. They probably sit around and consider anything some himbo on the violin plays to be art.”

His junior snorted, “Uh-huh. Something was bound to go wrong, anyway. Just like the Taco Bell incident.” The Taco Bell incident was famous among the two of them, Gold had gotten dared to eat 10 tacos and ended up not only throwing the taco’s up in the bathroom but he left a scattered mess of scooped out sour cream and cheese on the floor. One employee had slipped on the mess and effectively spilt three different sodas onto the ground. It was a playground of ruin, just like the country club.

“Ah, good ‘ol Taco Bell. Almost as bad as the Pizza Hut fiasco.” Gold hummed to himself, reminiscing the worst of their journeys.

Black jolted up in his seat purely out of excitement, “I still can’t believe you lit those dumpsters on fire because some preteen told you he’d give you $20 if you did.” Gold threw up one hand in the air, laughing, “Hey, man. $20 is $20, even if it’s from a 10 year old’s allowance savings.”

The brunette wheezed, there was nothing more hilarious than going over all their terrible adventures. There was far too many to count. Some led to fires breaking out and others led to them getting permanently kicked out of many establishments.

That was what he thinks they both like about each other’s company, neither of them had the fear of consequences and embarrassments that their other friends had so that lead to them doing whatever they wanted to, whenever they wanted to. It was a fun relief. 

“Guess we can add this mishap to our growing list, we could probably write a book about everything that’s ever happened to us. A really long and terrifying book.” He leaned back in his seat as he pulled into his driveway, “We’d probably go to jail for some of the stuff in there. We’ll have to save those for stories to tell while we’re on tour. Keep our fans entertained.”

Black stepped out of the car and nodded, more laughter bubbling in the back of his throat as he slammed the car door. “You okay if I crash here tonight? I don’t feel like going back to my apartment.”

Gold shrugged as he unlocked the front door to his house and stepped inside, “Yeah, whatever you wanna do, dude. I don’t care if you stay over, it’s just me here anyway. Just make sure to put that tuxedo back on the rack so I can turn it in.” 

As he was talking, his junior was already at the top of the stairs, pushing his way into the guest room and shutting the door behind him. As he was changing back into his normal clothes, he realized that he still had White’s number on his arm, written clear enough for him to understand every number. 

He wondered what she thought of the performance, if she had also been one of the people offended or laughing at him. She didn’t seem to be that mad at him when he was leaving but he wasn’t exactly the best at reading people in any situation.

Pulling his shirt back over his head and leaving his jacket on the floor, he made his way downstairs and watched Gold who was scrambling around the TV. He was flipping through recordings of shows which all seemed to be the same show and there was an obvious frustrated look on his face.

Black plopped down next to him on the couch, “Proteam Omega? What’s that?” Gold let out a groan, “My buddy Silver watches that show every time he’s over, an upperclassman of ours in high school has the lead role in it. I have every episode prerecorded just so my friend can have something to watch.”

“Well, turn it on then! I wanna see your famous upperclassmen.” Black grabbed the nearest pillow and moved it behind his head.

Gold pressed a button on the remote and the show quickly started playing. “So, Black. Did you meet any cute girls while we were at the club? I couldn’t seem to convince a single one to come with me for whatever reason. Guess they don’t like bad boys.” Black chose to ignore Gold calling himself a “bad boy” and pulled up his sleeve to show the numbers written on them.

His seniors eyes widened as he grinned and ran a hand through Black’s hair to rough it all up, “That’s my boy! Who was she? I probably saw her.” The brunette attempted to swat his hand away as he responded, “Her name was White, she’s the owner's daughter.” Gold didn’t put his hand up as he talked, “Oh, you’re gonna have a terrible time hitting her up, like, an awful time. We upset her father so badly.” He dramatically flung himself back onto the couch, “Can’t believe you’re going for forbidden love! So scandalous.”

Black lowered his sleeve and shook his head as he scooted back against the armrest, “Not forbidden!” He raised his voice, “I also just met the girl! You’re dramatic!” He didn’t know why he had to exclaim everything but he did.

His senior chuckled and tossed another pillow his direction, “Whatever, dude. I gotta go take this call anyway, the phone's been buzzing in my pocket for too long.” He jumped to his feet, sliding his phone out of his pocket easily and stepped out of the room.

Pressing the phone to his ear, he let out a breathy “Hello?” A familiar feminine voice rang out from the other side, “Gold! You picked it up for once. How was your gig?” 

He laughing awkwardly to himself as he realized, indeed that it was Crystal on the other side of the line. “Uh- You know. Pretty shitty. We caused a big ruckus and almost trashed the place but hey, it wasn’t on purpose and that’s what matters, right?” 

He could practically see Crystal’s eye roll over the phone as she talked, “Of course you did. I’m not surprised.” He could hear her sigh over the phone before she continued, “Regardless. I called to tell you that surprise! Silver and I are coming back home in two weeks and we’re gonna help you find a new joint to sing at. And, don’t worry, Silver’s got some great business knowledge now.”

Gold blinked, that was a surprise. He wasn’t expecting to see one of them back until at least a few moments and he certainly didn’t think they’d both be coming back around the same time considering they were all so far apart.

“Crys, don’t tell Silver but you’re my favorite just ‘cause you told me before he did.” She laughed at that but he continued, “I mean- that’s crazy. It’s been a while since we all got together again. Like really got together. Oh, we’ve gotta find something fun to do. Like go back to the local diner.”

He’d love to sit at a table with them and spill all his stories about his adventures to them and then listen to their tales of how terrible college life must be and how badly they’d miss their simple town life. He’d especially like to tease the both of them about anything and everything.

Her voice rung out from the phone again, “That sounds great. I’ll be looking forward to it! And, oh- Your friend, Black. . . tell him that his friend Bianca will be returning as well, the girls actually been working under me for the past few days now.” Gold responded with a simple “K” as Crystal said her goodbyes and hung up.

He practically slid back into the living room, pushing himself back onto the couch, startling Black who looked to be knee deep into watching Proteam Omega on the TV. “My friends Crystal and Silver are coming into town in about 2 week. Crys says your pal Bianca is gonna come back as well.” Gold spoke with a proud grin.

This was cause enough for Black to sit up, already brimming with excitement. “Really? That’s funny ‘cause while you were gone, Cheren texted me he was coming back too. The whole gangs gonna be back together!” 

Gold smiled at his junior, glad to see he’d be getting to enjoy time with his friends as well. “I guess that means we’ll be going our separate ways for that time then. . .” 

That statement caused Black to frown, almost in a pouting manner. “What!?! No! Absolutely not. We can combine our two groups on some nights. We can’t just avoid each other ‘cause our friends are back.”

Gold leaned back against the armrest once more, a soft grin forming on his face. “Alright.” He sighed but not out of annoyance, “Mine are gonna be helping us find a new gig anyway so it’s only fair we all hang out together. Besides-“ Playfully, he jumped up to shove Black off of the couch and onto the carpet so he could stare down at him. “I can’t leave my favorite stupid singer alone, now can I?” 

They shared a grin as Black hoisted himself back onto the couch, “I can’t leave the world’s worst womanizer alone either. So go ahead and be quiet so I can finish watching Proteam Omega.”

That sparked a laugh from Gold as he settled down on his favorite spot to relax for the night and responded with a simple, “Alright, dude.”


End file.
